Those precious bodily fluids: Try not to be shocked, but Candidate Trump was Chuck Todd's first guest on yesterday's Meet the Press.
Candidate Trump appeared by phone, the highly unusual format the candidate seems to prefer. In the past, candidates haven't been afforded this luxury, which makes it easier for volk like Trump to filibuster folk like Todd.
Why was Candidate Trump invited onto the program? Presumably, to boost the ratings for Meet the Press. We say that because it was abundantly clear that Todd had little or nothing to ask his famous guest.
Todd began by asking about a claim Candidate Clinton had made—the claim that ISIS is "going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists."
This at least was current. "It's just another Hillary lie," Trump trumpastically said. "She lies like crazy about everything, whether it's strips where she was being gunned down in a helicopter or an airplane. She's a liar and everybody knows that."
If there was an irony involved in Trump calling someone else a liar, Todd didn't choose to note it. Trump was soon off to another complaint, with his meek host attempting to object:
TODD (12/20/15): Let me ask you this. If you knew your words were being used in recruitment videos, because I've had plenty of intelligence officials worry about this. You're right, there is no evidence yet.Trump was complaining that Clinton took too long to widdle at Saturday night's debate. Just like that, within roughly a minute, Todd had been reduced to asking Trump why he keeps complaining about Clinton's bathroom breaks.
But if you knew your words were being used, would you change your language?
TRUMP: No, because I think that my words represent toughness and strength. Hillary is not strong. Hillary is weak, frankly. She's got nothing.
TODD: Wait, let me stop you there—
TRUMP: She doesn't have—she couldn't even get back—George, she couldn't even get back on the stage. Nobody knows what happened to her. It's like she went home and went to sleep.
TODD: Why do you keep going on this?
TRUMP: She couldn't even get back on the stage last night.
TODD: Why?
TRUMP: I'll tell you why.
TODD: Why?
TRUMP: Because we need a president with great strength and great stamina. And Hillary doesn't have that.
The answer was obvious. "We need a president with great stamina," the high-minded candidate said. He seemed on the verge of analyzing those precious bodily fluids.
Within two minutes, Todd had been reduced to clucking about Trump's obsession with the lady candidate's bathroom breaks. But don't cry for Argentina! As the pointless "interview" wound on, it became abundantly clear that Todd had nothing to ask this candidate about on this particular day. He scattershot his way along, basically feeding lines to Trump which triggered Trump's greatest hits:
TODD: Let me ask you to respond to your friend Jeb Bush and what he had to say about you yesterday. Take a listen to the full quote and I'll get you on the other side.Really? "Jeb is a low-energy person?" Has Trump really said that before? Meanwhile, why, yes, right and OK. Those were Todd's four basic lines!
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUSH: Just one other thing. I've got to get this off my chest. Donald Trump is a jerk.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
BUSH: I feel better now. I just, I just— I gave myself therapy there. Thank you for allowing me to do it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Well, this has escalated between you and Mr. Bush.
TRUMP: Look, his people gave him that quote. You could see he was just saying, "OK, I'm ready now. I'm ready now to say it." Jeb is a weak and ineffective person. He's also a low-energy person, which I've said before, but he's a weak and ineffective person. Jeb, if he were president, it would just be more of the same. It would be just— He's got money from all of the lobbyists and all of the special interests that run him like a puppet.
TODD: Yes. I mean—
TRUMP: He's got 2 percent in the polls. I have 41 percent in the latest poll. He has 2 percent. He's going to be off the stage soon.
TODD: OK.
TRUMP: He's an embarrassment to the Bush family. And, in fact, he doesn't even want to use the Bush name, which is interesting. Jeb is an embarrassment to himself and to his family.
TODD: Why—
TRUMP: And the Republican Party—
TODD: Yes.
TRUMP: Has, has essentially—they're not even listening to Jeb.
TODD: Why—
TRUMP: Jeb is saying that. By the way, Jeb—
TODD: Yes.
TRUMP: Jeb is only saying that to try and get a little mojo going.
TODD: OK.
TRUMP: But in the meantime, I went up 11 points in the new Fox poll.
TODD: Right.
TRUMP: I went up 11 points After the debate and he went down two.
TODD: Yes.
Sadly, that's how it looks when a Meet the Press host agrees to perform as a caddy. Presumably, the program got its ratings bump, so everything turned out OK.
In this morning's New York Times, Paul Krugman pretended to explain how our political and journalistic culture reached its current ludicrous state. He seemed to attribute the whole devolution to the GOP.
Krugman described a silly Republican policy discussion, then ended the column like this:
KRUGMAN (12/21/15): In case you’re wondering, nothing like this process has happened on the Democratic side. When Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debate, say, financial regulation, it’s a real discussion, with both candidates evidently well informed about the issues. American political discourse as a whole hasn’t been dumbed down, just its conservative wing.In truth, the dumbing-down of American discourse can't be attributed to the GOP alone. Dating at least to the Bush-Gore campaign where Krugman began his history lesson, an aggressive role in this devolution has been played by the massively overpaid corporate hirelings who make up the so-called mainstream press corps.
Going back to Republicans, does this mean that Mr. Trump will actually be the nominee? I have no idea. But it’s important to realize that he isn’t someone who suddenly intruded into Republican politics from an alternative universe. He, or someone like him, is where the party has been headed for a long time.
Todd fed Trump his favorite lines. By now, it has become abundantly clear that Krugman will never tell.
Having read Krugman's column this morning, I'd sadly have to agree. The rap on Gore was that he was boring, Paul?
ReplyDeleteThe rap -- prominently distributed by the New York Times -- was that Gore was a perpetual liar.
Trump's advantage over the rest of the Republicans is that he was already a celebity. The remaining candidates were not well-known. The media has made that difference even greater by giving Trump a disproportionate amount of coverage. Why are they doing this?
ReplyDelete1. Gets them better ratings?
2. Trump would be a weak candidate; the media support Hillary?
3. Trump has been more clever at making statements that provoke media coverage?
4. The media like to publicize Trump's inappropriate comments, because they make all Republicans look bad.
5. The media is owned by corporations, whose job it is to misinform, distract, and confuse the public in order to keep the scams corporations run on the public from being aired.
DeleteIn this case, it's the distraction is the tool which is being used by the corporate-owned media.
Its a vicious cycle. Trump makes a politically incorrect comment that a substantial silent majority secretly agree with and wish someone had the balls to publicly proclaim. Media goes batshit insane covering the hate fact, causing the silent majority to empathize more with Trump and his numbers to rise accordingly. Dem and rival GOP candidates rush to denounce him, wrongly thinking his support is about to crater and they will pick up the pieces. Instead this causes the silent majority to empathize even more with Trump, and his support rises further. Media now must cover Trump's every move because that's what both rabid supporters and enemies are obsessed with. Trump makes another common sense but politically incorrect comment. Rinse and repeat. The Trump Train continues at full speed.
DeleteSo, you think it is OK when Trump refers to women as "that"?
DeleteDoesn't it bother you that he lies to you? It is as if he thinks voters are all chumps and is trying to see how much garbage they will swallow, while laughing up his sleeve at them.
"He's fighting for my side (white, male, 30s) and no other candidate is doing so explicitly."
DeleteI hear this a lot. There are lots of white males who think they are losing their rights.
These are the same folks who don't know what "white privilege" or "male privilege" means.
The irony is they aren't losing their "rights", they're losing their "privilege". They just think they're losing their rights, because those same rights are now being offered to others. And they're pissed off about the equality of all.
Yes, Trump has called JEB! low-energy before, early and often.
ReplyDeleteYes, Trump has called JEB! low-energy before, early and often.
ReplyDeleteKrugman's point was that Dems intelligently debate important issues. Is it your position that Gore yelled at W and so both sides do it?
ReplyDeleteAs a Trump supporter, here's my basic primal analysis: He's fighting for my side (white, male, 30s) and no other candidate is doing so explicitly. Who was the last democrat presidential candidate to side with protestant (or in my case, culturally protestant and religiously agnostic) white males?
ReplyDeleteI don't buy the left tribe's argument that there is structural racism or bias against non-whites. Even if there is, I don't care that much. I grew up poor in a fly over state, eating Aldi's (not so good 25 years ago as compared to today) and seeing my single parent mom go into credit card and student loan debt to support herself and me. She's still paying the student loans off, despite years of service to both the state and federal workforce.
I'm tired of hearing shit about white cis-male privilege. I don't think my mom is even aware of the term, but I sure am as are many of my generation. We know we're heading toward a fiscal cliff of debt and there's nothing we can do about it because our politicians focus on minority, fringe and special interests rather than the majority. If other borders were as open as ours, maybe we could find solace in finding a place to retreat to but no other country has the wisdom that we do in regards to that.
Hear Freaking Hear!
DeleteHey, he has a right to stand up for his own ethnic and tribal interests, just as non-Asian minorities have been allowed to do for 50 years.
DeleteAnd did you just call him "boy?"
Wow. Just. Just Wow. I. Can't. Even......
If you think that Trump is fighting for your side, you are sadly misinformed. Rather than research Trump's policies you are reacting emotionally to what Trump seems to offer. Making statements such as "heading towards a fiscal cliff," and that your mother is still struggling, show that you need to research fiscal policy, and the true causes of her struggle. The faith in, and reliance on, "trickle-down" economics, which Trump effectively supports, is naïve and ignorant.
DeleteI'm voting for Trump over that witch Hillary.
DeleteWhich witch? There is no witch named Hillary running for office in this election. I believe she is a Methodist.
DeleteTrump doesn't represent white male interests. Trump is out for #1, himself. He is not a good businessman or negotiator and he cannot and will not accomplish any of the things he is promising. He is an incompetent who talks big but cannot walk the walk. It bothers me that all those supporters cannot see that about him. They are being played.
ReplyDeleteFrom Think Progress:
ReplyDelete"Republican frontrunner Donald Trump used a campaign stop in Michigan on Monday to make astonishingly sexist attacks against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
At one point, Trump told the Grand Rapids crowd that Clinton got “schlonged” by President Obama during their 2008 Democratic primary race.
“Even her race to Obama. She was going to beat Obama. I don’t know who’d be worse. I don’t know. How does it get worse? She was favored to win and she got schlonged. She lost. She lost,” Trump said.
“Schlong” is a well-known reference to a man’s genitals. There are no alternative definitions for the word, according to Merriam-Webster."
Maj, do you really think that is what most voters think about Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2008?
"Schlonged-gate"
DeleteJust the latest fake media batshitstorm that will only redound to Trump's benefit in the end.
Trump is no worse than any other know-nothing Republican.
DeleteThe media is distracting the public with the Trump nonsense, in order to protect the GOP.
Sanders says Sandra Bland would still be alive if she were a white woman. As if white women are never arrested, never commit suicide. In what universe?
ReplyDeleteSandra Bland would still be alive if she hadn't killed herself. She would still be alive if her friends and family had bailed her out. She would still be alive if she hadn't resisted the officer by refusing to get out of the car when asked to do so. She would probably still be alive if she hadn't been smoking marijuana at the time she encountered the officer. She would still be alive if she hadn't made a series of poor choices that exacerbated her situation.
If Bernie Sanders doesn't understand that, he is not a suitable candidate for office, where he will have to represent all the people, not just members of BLM.
"She would still be alive if she hadn't resisted the officer by refusing to get out of the car when asked to do so."
DeleteLet me guess, you support gun rights, because you need 2nd Amendment rights to fight the tyranny of the government.
No, he needs gun rights to defend himself if a cop asks him to get out of his care when he's smoking marijuana.
DeleteWhat does the Bureau of Land Management have to do with anything here?
DeleteI don't support the right of people to choose which police requests they will obey. That leads to tragedy. Obey first then get a lawyer and file a complaint or lawsuit. Everyone stays alive that way.
DeleteA tyrannical government is the price we pay for living in the land of the free.
Delete11:51,
DeleteOf course she should have gotten out of the car after the cop's request.
After all, who ever heard of a person of color having their rights crushed by the police? Other than the hundreds of cases now on video, of course.
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ReplyDelete